Bacterial vaginosis (BV) is the most prevalent cause of symptomatic vaginal discharge in the U.S. and has been associated with numerous complications including pre term delivery of infants, pelvic inflammatory disease (PID), urinary tract infections (UTI) and acquisition/transmission of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) including human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Control of BV has been advocated as a means of decreasing the prevalence of these complications yet the etiology of BV remains unknown and the current treatment regimens are inadequate in terms of initial cure and recurrence rates. Until further insight is gained into the infectious etiology of BV, efforts to improve therapy and to prevent complications will be difficult. Although the bacteriology of BV has been well described using standard microbiological culture methods, it has been estimated that only <1% of microorganisms are culturable using standard techniques. Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) combined with PCR is a powerful molecular technique that has been used to successfully detect microbial diversity in the gastrointestinal tract and the oral cavity. We propose to use DGGE to determine differences in the microbial biofilm of women with and without BV as well as comparing women with symptomatic and asymptomatic BV to understand more about the pathogenesis of BV. [unreadable] [unreadable]